Mega grocery giant Kroger, Inc. today announced a deal with Murray's Cheese of New York to "expand Kroger's specialty cheese program." In the Northwest, that means you might be seeing a better selection of cheese at Fred Meyer and QFC stores starting sometime next year. [via serious eats]

Sasha Davies of Cheese by Hand was a judge at this year's American Cheese Society competition. She recounts tales of tasting and spitting (or not) here. You'll find judge Gordon Edgar's tales from the trenches here.

Speaking of the ACS, David Rosengarten seems to be little bit cranky about this year's competition results. In his August 8th 'Tastings' newsletter (not yet available online) he writes...

[After tasting the top three cheeses] I stepped
back a bit and noodled it all into something a little surprising: this
large panel of judges had come up with, essentially, a trio of
middle-of-the-road cheeses (excellent ones, nevertheless) that everyone
could love.

In a field with almost mind-numbing variegation.....why? Well, we can speculate away.Firstly, on a large judging panel, you may run into a few people who
just don't like some of the quirkier entries--and the point totals of
those cheeses will drop precipitously. Secondly....I understand that there's always a theoretical tussle
between the two halves of the judge's committee: the technical judges,
and the aesthetic judges. The former group, at its most dogmatic, will
approach a gorgeous, say, bloomy white rind, runny, a real Camembert
wannabe with great flavor.....and declare the rind technically
imperfect, thereby putting the award-potential kibosh on a killer
cheese. The
aesthetes may look at an aged mountain-style tomme, massively healthy,
that has been gorgeously constructed, and is supernaturally balanced--but,
because they get no deep thrills from it, may shoot down the
technician's claim of "brilliance."]

Also over at Serious Eats, Jamie gives us more information about the ACS Best In Show winner, Leelanu Aged Raclette. According to this article, the Raclette received a perfect score of 100 in the competition. Cheesemakers Ann and John Hoyt have been swamped with phone calls (not surprisingly) from buyers trying to get their hands on some.